SEGA, you had me at Turbo Outrun!

Most people associate gaming with kids' classics like Outrun, Space Harrier and Streets of Rage are games that have lived on and continue to live on through adults. Nowadays, it feels as if SEGA has tapped into this and is on a mission to re-release most of their prized possessions, such as PowerDrift, a perfect racer in which you race across all sorts of weird and wonderful structures, or the legendary Outrun, it took me years to properly master this Yu Suzuki classic, it was like no other racer in the world.

But it's the imminent arrival of Turbo Outrun that has me real excited, it's not quite "Outrun" I mean you can't really compare the two, for example, the sequel is more of an atmospheric hi-octane race, that transports the player through nearly every road-like extremity. Gone are the branching paths and selectable soundtracks, but it does have better graphics and more features, including upgrading your car between stages, and more importantly, you can go turbo!

I agree with gematsu's recent website article, they mentioned this about the upcoming 3DS version "the centrepiece title of the collection is Turbo Outrun, which was the number one most requested title from a survey."

Read more at http://gematsu.com/2016/09/sega-3d-fukkoku-archives-3-final-stage-adds-turbo-outrun-three-new-ports-announced#K7hQPOSwbYWHq5pR.99

For me, it's great to see Turbo Outrun making an appearance. I'm not gonna lie to you, I've been waiting for a good home conversion for as long as I can remember, the game has been crying out for a great port ever since the SEGA Saturn and Dreamcast arrived. Just look what SEGA achieved on the Saturn with Galaxy Force 2, Outrun, Space Harrier and Afterburner, arcade perfection, so why did they ignore Turbo Outrun?

SEGA, past master and kings of the arcade during the 80's and 90's, weren't responsible for the horrors of the home conversion. I originally owned it on the Amstrad CPC, it was a colourful and valiant attempt, but it just couldn't match the pace of the arcade original, the Atari ST version very nearly made it, but it was far too choppy and lacked the thrills of the arcade, the C64 probably felt the closest of the lot, but despite having a thumping great soundtrack, the poor graphics and loading times killed what should have been a fast-paced experience. I've heard about the FM Towns version, and it looks like I missed out, but failing that, I've never played anything that competed with the arcade original.

This new 3DS Turbo Outrun appears to have nailed it, from what I've seen and heard, the game looks awesome! And according to various reports, improves over the arcade original by running in a re-programmed 16:9 format whilst using 3D. Yes, that's correct, this is the arcade Turbo Out Run, not the SEGA Megadrive version. SEGA put a lot of effort into their last Outrun 3DS port, so I can't wait to see how this ends up.


I just have one question for SEGA, is it too much effort to release Turbo Outrun as a separate download?

Turbo Outrun on the 3DS includes the following new features: 

Interim Save: Can instantly save the game state anytime

Interim Load: Loads the above interim save

Replay: Records own gameplay for later viewing. Replays can be fast forwarded

Select Function: After each four stages, it will be possible to freely change the three-part upgrades

Difficulty: Choose from five difficulty level stars; this feature is new and did not exist in original version

Time Limit: Choose from five-time levels
BGM Version: Choose from 2 BGM order types; TYPE 1 starts with Shake the Street, TYPE 2 starts with Rush a Difficulty

Gear Type: Choose between Switch (tapping the Gear Change button will switch between High and Low) and Hold (press and hold Gear Change for Low, release for High) types

Screen Size: Choose between Normal (4:3, same as the original), Wide (Screen stretched to fit with 3DS’ upper screen), Full (Fills the entire upper screen), or Reduced (To give the situation of playing in arcades)

Cabinet Type: Cockpit re-enacts the red cabinet most common in Japan. Deluxe is a white cabinet, the same as the first OutRun. Upright is playing while standing. Cockpit (Moving Cockpit) is the same cabinet as Cockpit but will move based on steer movement like Deluxe.

Equaliser: Process the sounds played from the game

Environment Sounds: If set to “On”, it will play various sounds from other game cabinets, to give the feel of playing in arcades

Engine Volume: The volume for engine sound can be set in three levels

BGM Test: Can listen to the in-game music anytime

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amstrad CPC 8-bit exclusive games

Image
Have you ever wondered what Amstrad CPC games were exclusive to the Amstrad CPC? The list below is what I know of, some of the games below are truly awful, but then again, there's quite a few games I wouldn't have missed for the world. This is by no means a definitive list of exclusives, and in most cases, you can find these games on the Amiga, ST and Consoles, but you won't find 'em on the ZX Spectrum or C64 (That's if I've done my homework correctly).  There's some real classic amongst this lot, Bumpy is brilliant, as is Bactron and D.Day is a masterclass in arcade strategy. I also found a game I never knew existed in 'Dempsey and Makepeace' a classic cop series set in the 80s. But the jewel in the crown for me is Get Dexter. Star Driver needs to be checked out if you've never played it, it scrolls along like a mode 7 game, the scrolling technique from the SNES, and if you think you're ready for a challenge, try Builderland, it needs
Read more

AMSTRAD CPC - TO SCROLL OR NOT TO SCROLL

Image
I used to think it was strange that Commodore 64 and Speccy owners always claimed that their respective machines were far superior to the Amstrad CPC? I mean, c’mon, had they seriously never seen or played the likes of Wec Le-Mans, Robocop, ChaseHq, Sorcery+ and Rainbow Islands on the CPC? The C64 versions of Chase HQ, Continental Circus and Wec-Le-Mans look, and churn along, like a badly curled poo! For sure, there are plenty of examples of this being the case with the CPC (Out Run), and likewise with the Speccy. But I don't want to get too lavatorial or reduce this article into 8-bit zealotry. Instead, I’d simply like to air my frustrations and thoughts in order to quantify and better collect all the facts. Undoubtedly, the Amstrad is the machine of personal choice for me, it left me with some of the best and worst memories (Green Beret), and it was, and still is, a very pleasant machine to program and play games on. One of the biggest complaints I hear ab
Read more

Donkey kong Jr - Zx Spectrum

Image
Just a few thoughts on the tribute game made with AGD, for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It's great and everything, but I'm confused? I'm still a massive fan of the original Donkey Kong arcade-style platformer from the 1980's. It is said to be the game that launched the career of Shigeru Miyamoto, but more importantly, Mario and Donkey Kong. The game went on to give Nintendo international stardom, with Miyamoto creating a legacy so powerful, that Nintendo and Japan should pray daily for his continued existence. However, Donkey Kong Jnr wasn't a great sequel, in fact, Miyamoto himself thinks it's a weaker game. It sold well, but so did the USGOLD home conversion of Outrun, so sales don't really mean diddly squat, in regards to us gaming enthusiasts. I did like the way this game reversed the characters roles, with Kong now caged and Mario becoming the antagonist. The game featured a good premise as well, instead of climbing the platform, you now traversed
Read more